Daniel Falk

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Daniel Falk ( January 17, 1898 in Stanislau , Galicia - December 15, 1990 in New York ) was an Austrian violinist , member of the Vienna Philharmonic , who had to leave his home and flee to the United States in 1938 due to the racial ideology of the National Socialists .

He was inducted into the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and became a US citizen.

life and work

The family fled Galicia from the Russians during the First World War . His father was a master of pharmacology and pharmacist, his mother was Ernestine Falk, born on February 18, 1868. He had two brothers, Siegmund and Isidor. The family was very interested in education and culture. All of the sons studied, Siegmund became an engineer, Isidor obtained a doctorate. Two uncles were lawyers. Daniel Falk was a child prodigy at the game of chess.

From 1914 to 1920 he studied violin at the Vienna Music Academy . His teacher was Julius Stwertka , concertmaster of the Vienna Philharmonic . He graduated with a diploma. On September 1, 1920 he was accepted into the Vienna State Opera Orchestra and at the same time into the Association of the Vienna Philharmonic. From 1918 he also studied law at the University of Vienna . He obtained his Dr. jur. by doctorate on July 9, 1924. Due to his Jewish origin, he was given a forced leave of absence from the Vienna State Opera on March 23, 1938 - a few days after the annexation of Austria to Hitler's Germany. With effect from August 31, 1938 he was forced to retire. He fled to Switzerland by plane on September 8, 1938 , two days before the border was closed, and on January 15, 1940 by steamship Manhattan from Genoa to New York , where he arrived nine days later. Presumably because of his place of birth, he was included in the Polish immigration quota.

Until November 1940, he could not pursue any employment, either in Switzerland or in the USA, due to a lack of a work permit. During these two years he was dependent on support from escape aid organizations. Then he had to take precarious and underpaid jobs until 1943, for example on Broadway in New York, where he was employed in the orchestra of Merry Widow , with Marta Eggerth and Jan Kiepura in the lead roles. He took work where he could find it, playing for five months in Houston , Texas , then in Kansas City , Missouri , and finally in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania . While he was struggling to survive in America, almost all of his family were wiped out in Europe. The Nazi regime deported and murdered the mother, both brothers, both uncles and the majority of all other relatives. The father had died in 1915. His teacher Stwertka was also a victim of the Shoah in 1942 and died in the Theresienstadt concentration camp .

In 1943 he completed a successful audition with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in New York, where three of his former colleagues with the Philharmonic - Hugo Burghauser , Josef Geringer and Ludwig Wittels - found work. In contrast to Vienna, where the orchestra musicians were permanently engaged, there were only one-year contracts in New York. Every year on March 15th, the Conductors' Conference met and decided on “life and death”, said Falk. At first he was dependent on extra income - for example in the New York City Opera or at the Chautauqua Festival - because during the war the season at the Met lasted only 16 weeks. A couple of weeks of touring followed, but then they had to look for work elsewhere. On June 18, 1945, he was granted US citizenship. At the end of 1946, all the evicted Philharmonics, including Falk, received an official invitation to “return to the ranks of the Vienna Philharmonic and take back the seat from which they were illegally evicted”. The hope was expressed that “you will give us the opportunity to redress a small part of the injustice that has been committed”. He responded with a series of questions that were obviously not answered or not answered satisfactorily. Daniel Falk stayed at the Met for 25 seasons. After his departure, he was not entitled to a pension. In November 1963, he received compensation from the Fund for Aid to Politically Persecuted People who are domiciled and permanently resident abroad.

Falk remained unmarried.

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personal data
SURNAME Falk, Daniel
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian orchestral musician (violin)
DATE OF BIRTH January 17, 1898
PLACE OF BIRTH Stanislau , Galicia
DATE OF DEATH December 15, 1990
Place of death New York City